City guide · Sichuan
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
When you reach the monkey reserve, monkeys come at you — one grabs your leg, another climbs on your head — and then a man appears asking whether you want to buy monkey food. Five yuan a bag. He gives it to the monkey king, and the monkey king leaves. Plenty of visitors were so startled they just paid. A lot of them walked out angry.
Eyewitness account, 'Dream Traveller: A Trip to Mount Emei'
Emei is somewhere every Sichuanese person goes to pay respects at least once. It was also the first trip I can remember — I was eight. Back then five or six hours in a car felt endless, and then I stood on a summit over 3,000 metres for the first time and had no words for how clean and wide everything looked. The sunrise, the cloud sea, the mischievous monkeys — those impressions are still sharp. That's when I started loving travel.
277403271, 'Pilgrimage to the Ice and Snow Holy Land'
You step off the bus at Leidongping into air that is 10°C colder than the town below, queue for the cable car, and 40 seconds later you are standing on a 3,077 m plateau above a sea of cloud that looks solid enough to walk on. A 48-metre bronze Samantabhadra statue rides a four-tusked elephant in the middle of it, gilded and absurdly bright against the white. On a clear morning you can see Gongga Snow Mountain, 7,556 m, floating on the horizon like a rumour — and then the sun clears the ridge, everyone around you gasps at once, and someone's phone falls off the railing.
Below the summit the mountain drops through three distinct worlds. The low zone around Baoguosi is subtropical and easy — temples in camphor shade, hot-spring resorts, a street of snack stalls. The middle zone, Qingyingge up to Xiangchi, is the postcard part: a river channelled between two cliffs, a pavilion built over the confluence where black and white water meet, the One-Line Sky gorge barely 3 metres wide, and macaques sitting on the handrails like they own the place. The high zone above Xiangchi is fir forest, fog and 99 switchbacks, where pilgrims in their seventies climb one step at a time with a bamboo stick and a thermos.
It is a mountain that has been climbed on purpose for at least 1,500 years. Emei is the bodhimanda of Samantabhadra, one of the four great Buddhist mountains of China, and the temples still function: you'll smell incense at 6am, hear the wooden fish being struck during evening chanting, and share a dormitory corridor with monks. Then you'll get back on a bus, pass a KFC in Emeishan town, and remember you're 90 minutes from Chengdu.
Mount Emei
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
The Golden Summit is the high point of any Emei trip. The four-faced Samantabhadra statue stands 48 metres tall and weighs over 600 tonnes, facing the Huazang Temple bronze halls. On a clear morning you look down on a sea of cloud with the Chengdu Plain somewhere far below.
Sunrise, cloud sea, Buddha's halo and the holy lamps are the four legendary sights. Sunrise hits around 06:00 in summer and 07:00 in winter; the cloud sea shows best 09:00-10:00 and 15:00-16:00; Buddha's halo appears roughly 70 times a year, usually morning 09:00-10:00 or afternoon 14:00-16:00 when mist sits below you and the sun is behind.
Between Qingyin Pavilion and Hongchunping, a 25-hectare valley holds three family troops of wild Tibetan macaques, over 300 animals. Viewing hours run 09:00-17:00. They are bold, they will grab, and the bamboo stick vendors sell for CNY 1-3 is worth every fen.
The ski field at Leidongping sits at 2,500m and runs from December to late March, roughly 130 days. Skiing costs CNY 80 per hour, a snow saucer CNY 60-80, and a dog sled CNY 60 per ride. Back at the foot of the mountain, Lingxiu hot springs are CNY 168, Hongzhu CNY 198, and the smaller Yoga spring CNY 128.
Emei is the bodhimanda of Samantabhadra, with about 26 temples and eight major ones. Baoguo Temple charges CNY 8, Fuhu Temple CNY 6, Wannian Temple CNY 10. Pilgrims still climb the whole thing on foot over ten-odd days, one step at a time.
Itineraries
Bus to the top, walk the middle mountain, sleep at the foot. Best if you want the Golden Summit without wrecking your legs.
Take the tourist bus from Chengdu Xinnanmen to Emei Mountain Tourist Coach Station (CNY 43, every 30 minutes), or the train to Emei Railway Station and bus 1 then 5 to the Baoguo Temple terminus (CNY 1 + CNY 1.5).
Stops: Baoguo TempleShengji Evening BellFirst Mountain PavilionYingbin SquareEmei Mountain MuseumFuhu TempleHaochi StreetLingxiu Hot Spring
Buy the sightseeing bus ticket (middle section round trip CNY 40, high section round trip CNY 30, whole mountain round trip CNY 70) and ride to Leidongping. Walk 1.5km to Jieyin Hall, then take the Golden Summit cable car up, CNY 65 peak / CNY 30 off-peak.
Stops: LeidongpingJieyin HallGolden Summit cable carFour-faced SamantabhadraHuazang TempleShe Shen CliffWannian Temple
From Wannian Temple walk down to Qingyin Pavilion, about 2km, then follow the stream to First Line Sky (20 minutes) and the Ecological Monkey Reserve (another 15 minutes). Keep plastic bags out of sight.
Stops: Wannian TempleWhite Dragon CaveQingyin PavilionShuangqiao QingyinFirst Line SkyEcological Monkey ReserveWuxiangang bus stop
The route UNESCO assessors walked. About 40km from the middle mountain to the high mountain, and every step is earned.
Same easy first day: Baoguo Temple, the bell pavilion, First Mountain Pavilion, the museum, Fuhu Temple. Sleep near Baoguo Temple so you can start early.
Stops: Baoguo TempleShengji Evening BellFirst Mountain PavilionYingbin SquareEmei Mountain MuseumFuhu Temple
Bus to Wuxiangang and start walking. This is the long day: Qingyin Pavilion, First Line Sky, the monkey reserve, Hongchunping, Xianfeng Temple, Jiulao Cave, Yuxian Temple, Xixiang Pool. Sleep at a monastery or farm guesthouse, CNY 30-50 per person.
Stops: WuxiangangQingyin PavilionFirst Line SkyEcological Monkey ReserveHongchunpingXianfeng TempleJiulao CaveYuxian TempleXixiang Pool
Climb through the Ninety-nine Bends, the famous zigzag slope from Lingxiao Pavilion to Shouxing Bridge, then on to Leidongping and the summit. Walk up from Jieyin Hall if you skip the cable car, about an hour through old-growth forest.
Stops: Ninety-nine BendsLeidongpingJieyin HallGolden SummitTen Thousand Buddha Peak
Sights
High mountain, must-do
At 3,077m the summit is a small plateau that once held a bronze hall, hence the name. On a good day you see the Chengdu Plain, the Min, Qingyi and Dadu rivers, and snow peaks including Gongga. This is where all four sky phenomena happen.
Tip Go up the night before and sleep at the summit if sunrise matters to you. The Golden Summit Hotel sits at 3,033m, three minutes' walk from the statue, from CNY 443. Otherwise you are leaving Leidongping in the dark.
Middle mountain, architecture
Founded in the Tang dynasty and rebuilt repeatedly, Wannian is one of the eight great temples and famous for its bronze Samantabhadra statue. The Beamless Brick Hall, built in 1600 by Emperor Wanli for his mother's birthday, is entirely brick, 17.12m tall, with a domed roof and thousands of small Buddhas on the walls.
Tip The cable car saves you a steep 40-minute climb. If you have knees left after the summit, walk down to Qingyin Pavilion instead and take the scenery in.
Middle mountain, water and gardens
A garden-style temple wrapped around two rivers, the White Dragon and the Black Dragon, crossed by twin arched bridges known as the Double Flying Bridges. At the confluence sits Niu Xin Pavilion over a black boulder shaped like an ox heart. Garden historians call the whole thing a poem you can hear.
Tip Locals treat this as the summer retreat of Emei, so it is packed on weekends and holidays. Come early or late. The farm guesthouses here charge CNY 30-50 per person and the wild-vegetable dishes are worth it.
Middle mountain, wildlife
A 25-hectare valley between Qingyin Pavilion, First Line Sky and Hongchunping, home to over 300 wild Tibetan macaques in three family troops. Boardwalks, pavilions and rope bridges let you watch safely. Viewing hours 09:00-17:00.
Tip Keep everything inside your bag. No plastic bags visible, no drinks in your hand, no opening your pack in front of them. If a troop blocks the path, do not shout or run. Monkeys do scratch people, and the vendors selling CNY 5 monkey food are not the ones bearing the risk.
Low mountain, gateway
Baoguo Temple is the gateway to the mountain and the largest temple on it, with four halls of halls hidden among pines and cypresses. It holds three treasures: a 2.4m Ming porcelain Buddha from 1415, a 25-tonne bronze bell, and a 14-storey bronze pagoda engraved with 4,700 Buddhas and the full Avatamsaka Sutra.
Tip The flat ground in front of Baoguo Temple is the traditional backpacker camping spot. Do the low mountain the afternoon you arrive, then hit the hot springs. Lingxiu is CNY 168, Hongzhu CNY 198, Yoga CNY 128.
Food
Not the Chengdu version. Here it's a thick, goopy pea-and-rice paste with a scoop of silken tofu broken into it, then loaded with soy sauce, Sichuan pepper, chili oil, ginger-garlic juice, peanuts, crisp soybeans, pickled mustard and scallions — and finally a small steamer basket of beef or fried pork tipped on top. Eat it hot and stir it once, then stop stirring or it turns to soup. Try Gao Ji Doufunao at 116 Shuyuan Street in Emei town. About CNY 10.
Emei's signature is a clear beef offal hot pot — everything but the meat: tendon, tripe, lung, and yes, other parts. The broth is light but deeply savoury, with a faint gamy edge, and the dipping sauce is chopped green and red chili with fresh coriander, known locally as 'water dip.' Order the beef offal pot, a steamed beef dish and grilled tofu. Around CNY 40 per person; the cluster of tangguo shops by the Wenmiao Street fruit market is the classic address.
A sweet, paste-like dessert made from three ingredients — glutinous rice, black beans and sesame — hence the name 'three-mix mud.' Crisp on the outside, soft and fragrant inside, sweet but not cloying, and surprisingly filling. A good mid-climb energy hit. Try it at the sweet-food casserole shops near the Xizheng Street and Shuyuan Street junction.
Su Dongpo called Emei's spring water 'spring flowing beyond the clouds,' and the tofu made with it is snow-white, silky and delicate. Served with sesame oil, chili oil, Sichuan pepper, garlic paste, MSG and scallions, it's a clean, refreshing vegetarian dish — the best versions come out of the temple kitchens at Wannian Temple and Shenshui Pavilion inside the scenic area.
Emei smokes its duck; neighbouring Leshan sweetens it (the famous tianpi ya). The Emei version is deeply aromatic without being cloying or 'heaty' — a distinctive old-style fragrance. The Leshan sweet-skin version is brown-red, crisp-skinned, faintly sweet and tender. Buy from Cao Yazi on Emei's Commercial Street. Half a duck runs about CNY 30–40.
Where to eat
Night market · Emei town
A 300-metre strip with more than 200 stalls on both sides — the heart of Emei's after-dark eating and the easiest place to graze across every local dish in one evening. Expect smoke, noise, plastic stools and Sichuan pepper in everything. Budget about CNY 20 per person; come hungry and order small at each stall.
Local cuisine · Baoguo area
A cluster of eight themed kitchens — medicinal cuisine, mountain delicacies, snacks, barbecue, vegetarian, tea rooms and a bar — built on the old Gu Fenghuang Tai site beside the Yoga River. It's the most convenient full-menu stop if you're staying around Baoguo Temple and want to taste the whole spectrum in one place.
Home-style · Malugiao
A no-frills local spot where the radish soup is the reason to come — clear, sweet and restorative after a day on the mountain. Regulars also order the braised tripe, pickled bamboo shoots and stir-fried wild greens. Be warned: the odd fly buzzes around, which locals shrug off. About CNY 32 per person.
Beef hot pot · Emei town
The packed-out cluster of tangguo shops by the fruit market on Wenmiao Street — the local benchmark for Emei beef offal hot pot. Three dishes are compulsory: the beef offal pot, steamed beef and grilled tofu. Come early or expect a wait; the 'water dip' of green and red chili with coriander is what makes it.
Where to stay
Summit hotel · 3,033 m
The only real hotel at the summit, floating above the sea of clouds and three minutes' walk from the 48-metre Samantabhadra statue. On a clear day you look out over old-growth forest toward Gongga Snow Mountain, and you're already in position for all four Golden Summit spectacles — sunrise, cloud sea, Buddha's halo and holy lamps. Book far ahead for sunrise dates.
Farm-stay style · Mid-mountain
A courtyard house with a lake out front and a long suspension bridge across it — blue-green water, clear to the bottom, quiet and comfortable. This is the mid-mountain base for hikers who want to break the climb, and the kitchen's wild-vegetable omelette and bitter-bamboo pork soup are made with local produce. About CNY 200.
Budget inn · Baoguo, foot of the mountain
Sitting at the foot of the mountain near Baoguo Temple and right beside the Emei Mountain tourist bus centre, this is the most practical base if you're arriving or leaving by bus. The common area is a relaxed bar with its own style. Economy rooms from CNY 100, dormitory beds from CNY 80.
Getting around
Almost everyone flies into Chengdu first. Chengdu Shuangliu handles the bulk of domestic and international flights, and the mountain is only 120 km away on an all-highway run — about 90 minutes by car or coach. From the airport you take the civil-aviation shuttle to Minshan Hotel, walk about 10 minutes to Chengdu Xinnanmen Tourist Bus Station, and pick up a direct coach from there. If you want a hands-off arrival, a Mount Emei private tour can meet you at the airport and drive you straight to the Baoguo Temple scenic area.
Emei Railway Station sits on the Chengdu–Kunming line, with 20-plus trains stopping daily. Useful services include K145, K113 and K165 (Chengdu–Kunming) and K117 (Chengdu–Panzhihua). Extra trains are added over Spring Festival, May Day and National Day, so check online or at the ticket window. From the station, bus 1 runs to Penshuichi (CNY 1, about 6 minutes), then transfer to bus 5 for Baoguo Temple Tourist Bus Center (CNY 1.5, about 10 minutes). A taxi from the station to Baoguo Temple costs about CNY 15 and takes roughly 13 minutes.
Chengdu Xinnanmen Tourist Bus Station is the main gateway, with departures to Emei Shan Passenger Center every 30 minutes (CNY 43). From Chongqing Caiyuanba Station the fare is CNY 126 (you can also board at Chenjiaping en route). Leshan Passenger Center runs buses every 10 minutes for CNY 8–12. Note there are two different stations: the Jiuzhu Passenger Center is in Emei town, while the Emei Shan Tourist Passenger Center is inside the scenic area at Baoguo Temple. If you arrive at the town station, a taxi to the scenic area takes about 10 minutes but can only reach the Yingbin Square.
Sightseeing buses connect five key lots: Baoguo Temple Passenger Center, Wuxiangang (for Qingyin Pavilion, Yixiantian and the monkey zone), Wannian Temple lot, Zero Kilometer and Leidongping. Tickets are CNY 40 return for the mid-mountain section, CNY 30 return for the high-mountain section, or CNY 70 return for the whole mountain, valid once per stop. Buses run 07:00–16:00 in low season (roughly every 30 min in the morning, hourly after noon) and 06:30–17:00 in high season (every 30 min all day); over Golden Week they start at 05:00. Two cable cars do the climbing: Wannian cable (Wannian parking–Wannian Temple) costs CNY 65 up / CNY 45 down in peak season, CNY 30 / CNY 20 off-peak, running 06:40–18:00; the Jinding cable (Jieyin Hall–Golden Summit) is CNY 65 up / CNY 55 down peak, CNY 30 / CNY 20 off-peak, running 05:30–18:00. Sedan chairs, known locally as huagan, are the old-fashioned porter option — uphill runs CNY 30–40 per km, downhill a little less (e.g. Xixiangchi to Leidongping, 7.5 km, is CNY 240 up or CNY 180 down, negotiable).
Shopping
The most famous Mount Emei product, and for good reason: this green tea has been sent to the imperial court as tribute across the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, and both the Daoist and Buddhist communities here have long treated it as a health tonic. It's sold at tea shops in town and around the scenic area, plus the Mount Emei tourist-goods center on the main road — expect to pay more the higher up the mountain you buy.
Harvested in the high-mountain zone, these are the local answer to a thousand soups — stew them with chicken or duck and the broth turns fragrant and clean. Alongside them, bitter bamboo shoots are prized for cooling the body and calming a liver running hot; simmer them and the soup tastes faintly bitter but deeply savory. Both are cheap, light and pack flat.
Made from the tubers of perennial konjac, this is one of the mountain's signature specialties — soft and chewy, savory on the tongue, rich without being greasy. Soak it in warm water until it turns sponge-like, squeeze out the water, slice it thin or into strips, and dress it cold or use it as a stir-fry ingredient. Buy it dried and it will survive the flight home.
Mount Emei has been called the 'garden of immortals' for its medicinal plants — wild gastrodia, clematis and huidouba among them — but the roadside stalls selling gastrodia and suoyang are riddled with fakes, and wild versus cultivated gastrodia differ wildly in price. If you can't tell them apart, don't buy from a hawker; go to a proper pharmacy in town instead. Handicrafts carved from local wood and bamboo make safer souvenirs and are sold all along the trails.
Practical info
Buy your ticket on the day you intend to use it — it expires otherwise. For multiple entries or to visit several ticketed sights, ask for the photo-registered ticket, which is valid for two days; the plain one is torn at the stub and cannot be reused. Carry your ticket at all times for spot checks, and note the distances so you can plan honestly: Baoguo Temple to Fuhu Temple is 1 km, Fuhu Temple to Qingyin Pavilion 12 km, Qingyin Pavilion to Yixiantian 1 km, Yixiantian to the monkey zone 0.5 km, the monkey zone to Hongchunping 4.5 km, Hongchunping to Jiulao Cave 15 km, Jiulao Cave to Xixiangchi 12.5 km, Xixiangchi to Leidongping 7.5 km, Leidongping to Jieyin Hall 1.5 km, Jieyin Hall to the Golden Summit 6 km, and the Golden Summit to Wanfo Peak 2 km.
| Entrance ticket (peak) | CNY 150 (16 Jan–15 Dec); discounted CNY 80 for children 1.1–1.4 m, disabled visitors, students, seniors over 60, and teachers in July, August and on Teachers' Day |
|---|---|
| Entrance ticket (low season) | CNY 90 — the ticket does not cover insurance, sightseeing buses or cable cars |
| Separate temple tickets | Baoguo Temple CNY 8, Fuhu Temple CNY 6, Wannian Temple CNY 10 |
| Gate opening hours | Summer/autumn (1 May–7 Oct) 06:00–18:30; winter/spring (8 Oct–30 Apr) 07:00–17:50 (Zero Kilometer closes 17:30) |
| Best times for the four wonders | Sunrise around 06:00 in summer, 07:00 in winter; sea of clouds 09:00–10:00 and 15:00–16:00; Buddha's halo 09:00–10:00 and 15:00–16:00; holy lamps on dark nights at the turn of the lunar month after rain clears |
| Seasonal highlights | Azaleas at Leidongping April–May and Wanfo Peak May–June; escaping the heat June–October; red leaves October; snow and skiing November–March; monkeys year-round |
| Key phone numbers | Leshan tourism complaints 0833-96927; Sichuan tourism complaints 028-86657308; Mount Emei–Leshan Giant Buddha service hotline 400-8196-333; official site ems517.com |
Background
Mount Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China, alongside Wutai Shan in Shanxi, Putuo Shan in Zhejiang and Jiuhua Shan in Anhui. It is the bodhimanda — the earthly seat — of Samantabhadra, known in Chinese as Puxian, the bodhisattva of practice and steadfast action. That single fact explains almost everything you see: the 26 temples, the pilgrims climbing in silence at 5am, the 48-metre bronze statue of Samantabhadra standing on the summit with ten faces pointing in ten directions. In 1996 UNESCO inscribed Mount Emei and the Leshan Giant Buddha together as a World Natural and Cultural Heritage site — one of very few places on the list carrying both labels at once.
The mountain climbs from 420 metres at Emei city to 3,099 metres at Wanfo Summit, and that 2,679-metre drop packs in more than 3,000 plant species, including rare firs and rhododendrons that bloom in waves from April to June. It is also the largest natural macaque reserve in China: around 300 wild Tibetan macaques live in three family troops along the Qingyin Pavilion to Hongchunping valley. They are not tame, they are not shy, and they have worked out that plastic bags mean food. Read the monkey rules before you go up — they are not decoration.
Emei tea has been famous since the Jin dynasty, and the monks here invented the flat-blade green tea now sold nationwide as Zhuyeqing. In the Qing dynasty the poet Tan Zhongyue sat down and named the mountain's Ten Scenic Views, and locals still use his list — Golden Summit Auspicious Light, Moonlit Elephant Pool, Nine Elders Immortal Grotto, Hongchun Morning Rain, White Water Autumn Wind, Twin Bridges Clear Sound, and so on. You will not see all ten on one trip. Nobody does.
Further reading
Ang Lee
The bamboo-forest fight sequence was shot in Anji, Zhejiang, not Emei, but the film's whole visual grammar — mist, vertical rock, monasteries hanging in cloud — is the Emei you are about to walk into. Watch it on the train down from Chengdu and the mountain will look familiar on arrival.
Marco Polo (or his ghostwriter)
Polo's account of 'Sinugul' and the mountains west of Chengdu is unreliable in detail but useful in spirit: it is one of the earliest European attempts to describe why Sichuan's sacred peaks pulled pilgrims from across the empire. Read it as a curiosity, not a guide.
Recorded live at Wannian Temple, available on Chinese streaming platforms
The evening chanting at Wannian Temple — incense praise, the Great Compassion Mantra, the Heart Sutra — is the sound of this mountain. Search 'Wannian Temple chanting' or 'Emei Puxian chant' on Ximalaya or NetEase Cloud Music before you go; hearing it live at 8pm inside the brick hall is a different thing entirely.
The questions visitors ask us most about Mount Emei, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
April to May and September to October give the best balance of temperature and visibility, with azaleas blooming from Leidongping up to Wanfoding in May and June. November to February brings snow and the most reliable clear summit skies, though the roads above kilometre zero can close. June to August is warm and wet — the low zone is pleasant but the summit is often wrapped in cloud and the sunrise is a coin toss.
Three days to do it properly: one for the low zone temples and hot springs, one for the middle-zone gorge and monkey reserve, and one for the Golden Summit. If you only have one day, take the park bus straight to Leidongping, ride the cable car to the summit, then work back down via Wanniansi and Qingyingge — you'll see the headline sights and skip the walking.
You can reach the summit without hiking at all. Park buses run from Baoguosi up to Leidongping, then a 40-second cable car takes you from Jieyin Hall to the Golden Summit. From the top bus stop it's about a 1-hour walk up if the cable car queue is long. The classic full hike from Baoguosi takes two days via the front route and one day via the back route, and it is genuinely strenuous.
Yes, they bite and scratch, and they are bold. Don't carry plastic bags in the open, don't eat in front of them, don't open your backpack where they can see, and don't try to pet them. If a troop blocks the path, don't shout or run — ask a warden for help. Buy a bamboo stick before the monkey zone (CNY 1 for plain, CNY 3 for lacquered) and walk in a group.
Practically, no. Sunrise is around 06:00 in summer and 07:00 in winter, and the first park bus from Baoguosi doesn't get you up there in time. Sleep at Leidongping (around 2,500 m), at Xiangchi, or at a summit hotel — Jinding Shanzhuang sits at 3,033 m, three minutes' walk from the statue, from about CNY 443 for a standard room — and set an alarm.
Yes, and it's underrated. December to March brings snow on the high zone, skiing at the Leidongping snow field (about 130 days of season, ski hire from CNY 80/hour, tubing CNY 60–80), and the clearest skies of the year for the cloud sea. The trade-off: the road above kilometre zero closes to private cars in winter, so you rely on the park bus, and the summit sits near -10°C with wind chill.
Plan this trip
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Sanqing Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres.
Tianjin
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China.
Datong
City guide · 12 tours
A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China.
Taiyuan
City guide · 12 tours
Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.
Pingyao
City guide · 12 tours
China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.
Wutai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.
Hulunbuir
City guide · 12 tours
China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.
The Forbidden City
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.
Sanya
City guide · 12 tours
China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.
Haikou
City guide · 12 tours
Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.
Beihai
City guide · 12 tours
24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.
Nanning
City guide · 12 tours
Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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